HOUSE VOTE BACKS A PLASTIC-GUN BAN

AP

Published: May 11, 1988

WASHINGTON, May 10—
The House today passed, 413 to 4, a bill that would ban the manufacture, sale or possession of any plastic firearm that could evade detection by X-ray machines or metal detectors.

The bill, which went to the Senate, is similar to a compromise agreed to by Attorney General Edwin Meese 3d after heavy lobbying by 11 of the nation's major law-enforcement groups.

That agreement defused a volatile debate, in which the National Rifle Association accused Congressional backers of a ban on plastic firearms of trying to outlaw thousands of existing handguns. Now, the N.R.A., groups favoring gun control and Congressional backers of both sides support the same basic concept. Current Guns Exempted

Although plastic guns have yet to be manufactured, the chief sponsor, Representative William J. Hughes, Democrat of New Jersey, said, ''We must be alert to new circumstances'' that could affect security at airports and public buildings.

Representative Bill McCollum, Republican of Florida, pointed out that ''all known firearms today'' are detectable, and therefore are exempted from the legislation.

The bill that passed, introduced by Mr. Hughes, would require plastic guns to have at least 3.7 ounces of metal so they would be detectable by magnetometers used at airports, Federal buildings and elsewhere.

The minimum metallic content was agreed upon by the departments of Justice, Treasury and Transportation and representatives of the law-enforcement community, Mr. Hughes said. Compromise Called Likely

The bill also requires firearm components to generate X-ray images that accurately depict their shape. Because most plastics give off a faint image, this requirement would enable security operators to identify the firearm.

Mr. Hughes said that a similar bill in the Senate, sponsored by Sens. Howard M. Metzenbaum, Democrat of Ohio, and Strom Thurmond, Republican of South Carolina, had only minor differences to his bill and that fashioning a compromise should not be problematic.

Voting against the House measure were Dick Cheney of Wyoming, Philip M. Crane of Illinois, Norman D. Shumway of California and Barbara F. Vucanovich of Nevada, all Republicans.

The bill passed under a special procedure allowing only limited debate and requiring a two-thirds majority, a process normally reserved for noncontroversial legislation.